Board Accord A Good Sign

June 4, 1986|Robin Branch, Columnist

With one crisis out of the way in Ocean Ridge, another looms. But, fortunately, Ocean Ridge has the kind of crises you have to love.

This is the town, you recall, that went into a major flap over the resident who dried her laundry flagrantly in semi-public view on her backyard clothesline instead of placing it discreetly in a clothes dryer as God intended.

And that was just before the Beautification Committee went into a major flap and resigned en masse to protest ``tacky`` welcome signs that were erected at the town limits by somebody without so much as a by-your-leave to the committee.

Now the issue of the tacky signs nears resolution with tentative approval Monday of a new welcome sign design, but reestablishment of the Beautification Committee slated for the same meeting did not turn out to be the formality that might have been anticipated.

Instead, Commissioner Eric Mangione proposed upgrading the Beautification Committee to an appearance board. This is a relatively modest proposal as commission action goes, of course, but fully sufficient to precipitate the next major flap in Ocean Ridge.

Mayor Jon Shudlick not only opposes the idea of an appearance board, but also is seriously miffed that reestablishment of the Beautification Committee has been delayed to talk about it.

``I didn`t expect this, and I`m not happy about this,`` said Shudlick. ``I`m 100 percent in favor of having a Beautification Committee. I thought we were ready to vote on it.``

Mangione said that ``the old committee was an excellent group that did an excellent job,`` which was a tactful assessment at the very least, since his wife, Catherine, was on the committee before joining her fellow committee members in the April huff-out.

``But,`` said Mangione, ``we need more than just beautification input,`` adding that the proposed board should be made up of an architect, a builder, a horticulturist and a ``layperson,`` unlike the old committee, which was composed of four ``laypersons.``

Under Mangione`s proposal, the board would have more power than the committee had, perhaps even being given the authority to review all building plans, as is done by appearance boards in other Palm Beach County cities.

``Appearance boards are much too (dictatorial) in authority,`` argued Shudlick in opposition to the proposal, which was tabled for a month. ``It would probably usurp the real intention of this commission.``

Nor was Shudlick satisfied with the new signs. They would be 3 feet high and 4 feet wide, blue and white in color and would display nothing but the plain, unvarnished facts: Town of Ocean Ridge.

Shudlick called the design ``too bland`` and said, ``we`re adjacent to the ocean and the Intracoastal. We have the sun. These things should be on the sign.``

Casting the only ``no`` vote on the new design, the mayor also wanted the town`s somewhat complex logo incorporated into the sign.

But the simple blue and white signs won majority approval for display at the town boundaries on State Road A1A and at the two Intracoastal Waterway bridges leading into town, which ought to settle the great sign flap for now.

This means commissioners can go on to creating a major flap over replacing the Beautification Committee with an appearance board, which isn`t that bad an idea.

If Ocean Ridge had an appearance board, maybe the board could review the activities of the Town Commission and offer tips to Ocean Ridge officials on at least giving the appearance of having serious business to conduct.